The House rejects a proposal to prohibit children under 12 from using Uzis or automatic weapons. Shreveport Representative Barbara Norton authored the measure after a child in Arizona accidentally killed a gun safety instructor with an Uzi.More

A measure that would penalize adults if they let a child who is 12 years old or younger handle a fully automatic weapon passed out of the House Criminal Justice Committee on a 7 to 6 vote. Shreveport Representative Barbara Norton says she brought forth this bill after a nine year old girl accidentally shot and killed her instructor with an Uzi submachine gun in Arizona.More

Today the full House is scheduled to take up a proposal to ban corporal punishment in public schools. Shreveport Representative Barbara Norton says 19 other states have similar laws on the books. She says children need a safe haven at school.More

The House Education Committee advances a measure that would ban corporal punishment of any kind in public schools. House Bill 497 is by Shreveport Representative Barbara Norton who says there is no proof that spanking a student has actually worked at changing behavior.

Shreveport police are searching for a suspect who vandalized and broke into the office of State Representative Barbara Norton. Norton says the outside of her office was vandalized last week, then someone broke into it on Sunday. She says whoever broke in, also changed one of the locks at her office.More

The bill to require fourth through sixth graders in public schools to recite part of the Declaration of Independence every day won the approval of the House. Opponents of the bill say it’s not fair to make students recite this passage, because there was slavery and women weren’t allowed to vote when it was written. But Denham Springs Representative Valerie Hodges says this document is the foundation of our country.More

A bill that would require movie theaters to use metal detectors was shot down in a House committee today. Prairieville Rep. Tony Bacala says this legislation creates a false sense of security. He says if someone wants to shoot up a movie theater, the first person to be killed is the 18-year-old minimum wage worker manning the metal detector.More

Shreveport Representative Barbara Norton has proposed a bill for the regular session that would require metal detectors to be installed at movie theaters. This would prevent people from bringing weapons into theaters.More

The Lafayette movie theater shooting has re-energized the debate of installing metal detectors inside movie theaters. Shreveport Representative Barbara Norton says she is already working on legislation to do just that.

State lawmakers have voted to increase the state's cigarette tax by 50 cents. If the measure is not vetoed, the tax on a pack of cigarettes will go up from 36 cents to 86 cents on July 1. Leesville Representative James Armes voted against the tax hike; he says Louisiana benefits from having the third lowest tax in the country on cigarettes.More